Pro-Palestinian protesters wave flags and shout as the peloton rides by in Poio at the start of the 16th stage of the Vuelta a Espana, a 172 km race between Poio and Castro de Herville. AFP
The protests, targeting the Israel-Premier Tech team over Israel’s nearly two-year war on the Gaza Strip, have disrupted several stages of one of cycling’s three Grand Tours and cast doubt on whether the 21-day race can be completed.
The activism has resulted in shortened stages and occasional crashes, as demonstrators have burst onto the course calling for an end to Israel’s deadliest war on Gaza—widely recognized as genocide by UN experts, genocide scholars, aid agencies, and human rights groups.
In his first public comments on the protests, Sanchez expressed his "recognition and full respect for the athletes, but also our admiration for a people like Spain's which mobilises for just causes, like Palestine".
"Spain today shines as an example and as a source of pride, an example to an international community where it sees Spain taking a step forward in the defence of human rights," he told a Socialist party gathering in Malaga.
Several members of the leftist government have publicly supported the movement in a country where support for the Palestinian cause is strong.
The authorities have ramped up security for Sunday's final stage in Madrid, which was slightly shortened and will see 1,100 police officers deploy in the Spanish capital.
Protesters briefly breached reinforced security and attempted to block the road during the penultimate stage in the Guadarrama mountains outside Madrid on Saturday, forcing cyclists to swerve around them.
Spain joined Ireland and Norway in recognizing a Palestinian state last year, and became the first European country to ask a U.N. court for permission to join South Africa’s case accusing Israel of genocide.
The Vuelta protesters argue that if Russian teams have been banned from international sporting events for the war in Ukraine, then Israeli teams should likewise be punished.
Spain’s government agrees.
Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said he would support the Israeli-owned team's expulsion from the race, while government spokesperson Pilar Alegria, who is also minister of sports and education, said neutrality is no longer possible in the face of the death and destruction in Gaza.
"What we are seeing at the protests, in my opinion, is logical," Alegria told Cadena Ser radio on Sept. 11. "Sports cannot be isolated from the world that surrounds them."
"(Israel) have killed more than 60,000 people, children, babies starving to death, hospitals destroyed," added Alegria.
"So it is important that sport, given this situation, takes a position at least similar to what it did against Russia."
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